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I wrote earlier about how if you open the door for a naysayer, they can actually rob you of valuable techs that can be used to improve your life. This is only one example of the concept of GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.
GIGO and Programs
GIGO means what it says: If you feed information into a function which is bad, you get bad information out. Let’s take a simple math equation: y=x2 . This simply means that for whatever you feed it, the answer is that number times itself. Pretty simple. Suppose you wanted to use it to find the answer for the number 12. You plug it in and see that the answer is 144. Now, suppose you decide to see what happens if you plug in something other than a number. Let’s say…..”apple”. How do you multiply “apple” by “apple”? Garbage answer. Now, let’s suppose that you are going to set up an equation to find out what the result of a number times itself means and you put y=2x. You plug in 12 and get….24. Wait, what? That can’t be right!. Same principle.
GIGO and you
You process information all the time. Even while you are sleeping you dream. Your thoughts create reality. If you accept thoughts that are discordant and destructive, discord and destruction are what you will have in your life. Conversely, if you choose to make your inner world one of harmony and beauty, that, too, will be reflected in the world around you.
I’m not saying that you should simply stop listening to anyone whose view differs from your own. If you were to do that, you would never hear another thing again, as we are all unique. What I am saying is that you don’t have to take what someone is saying into yourself. You don’t have to make it part of your thinking process if you don’t want to. You can listen without internalizing what you hear. It is a difficult skill to learn, but it is vital if you are to maintain mental equilibrium. The good news is that you do this already. How would it be if anything anyone spoke anywhere suddenly became your Truth? You already have the basic capability for filtering what you internalize. What I’m asking you to do is make it a conscious exercise.
Try this: When you are listening to someone, devote some of your attention to your internal state while the other person is talking. See what effect the words have on you. We have phrases in our language that are rather telling for something like this: “A lightbulb went off over my head.” “Boy, that rings true.” “That speech was amazing! It gave me the chills.” “This person makes my skin crawl.” These are but a few. When someone is speaking to you, or even in your presence, check to see if you sense anything. This is a minor application of using intuition, which we will get into later.
The other thing you can do is allow yourself to internalize what they are saying to a degree, but keep an eye on it, so to speak. Then go about your life as usual. If your world starts getting turbulent and your road gets bumpy, you probably want to get rid of it before it gets much worse. For those of you with security software, this is a pretty direct parallel. When you download something, your security software (antivirus or antispyware) will scan it to see if it contains malicious code. Here you are applying the concept within your own mind. The only time this might not work as expected is when an upheaval is needed in your life to straighten things out. If you listen to yourself, you will know on some level if this is the case. You as a person operate on multiple levels. If, deep down, you know that an upheaval is what is needed to straighten things out, life will get bumpy for a bit no matter how you may consciously try to prevent it. This, too, I will cover later.
When you decide to start making changes in your life, people will try to dissuade you for many reasons. A few may be trying to keep you down deliberately but most will actually have your welfare at heart. You will be exposed to messages that you can’t this or you aren’t that. You can listen to them, thank them for their kindness and concern, and release what they are saying without letting it stick to you. It may take some practice, but once you learn this lesson, you’ll have a big key to moving forward.
As within, so without
When you control the quality of your information, you can deliberately decide if something is working for you, or if someone is telling you that it is. Conversely, you can also tell whether or not something isn’t working for you. You and you alone are in control of your life. You can choose to stick your head in the sand, but don’t ever forget that it was your decision to do so. If you turn over control of your life to others, remember that even though they may want for your well-being, only you know what is right for you. Turning your life over to others will produce at best a life which is a pale shadow of what you can be.
